New Mauritius Hotels reports pretax loss on villa sales decline

New Mauritius Hotels (NMH)'s pre-tax loss widened in its third quarter, hit by lower villa sales in Morocco, the company said on Friday.

Among the Indian Ocean island nation's most-traded stocks, NMH said its pretax loss widened to 291.18 million rupees ($8.30 million) for the quarter to June 30 from 232.24 million rupees a year earlier.

Losses per share widened to 0.65 rupees from 0.53 rupees and revenue fell to 1.83 billion rupees from 1.94 billion.

The tourism sector is a key driver of the Indian Ocean island's $10 billion economy, with Europe traditionally its main source of visitors.

“Hotel operations in Marrakesh continue to sustain significant losses," the company said, adding it was eyeing a partnership with an unnamed entity "with the aim of securing positive cash flows from its hotel operations.”

NMH said bookings for the next few months are encouraging and room occupancy should be higher than last year.

However, the weakness of the British pound and other currencies in which the company conducts its business will put negative pressure on room rates, the firm said.